Mr. Roosevelt was in the
mountains with his wife and children when the news that the President
was dying was brought to him. At nine o'clock at night he started
off on a long drive of thirty-five miles to the railway station.
The road was narrow, and steep, and full of mudholes, and the drive
through the darkness was one of danger.
A little after five in the morning the station was reached. Here
a special train was waiting which carried the Vice-President to
Buffalo as fast as might be. But he was too late to see his President
in life. For while he was still on his wild drive through the night,
President McKinley had passed peacefully to his last rest.
Mr. Roosevelt was the youngest of all presidents, and he brought to
the White House a youthful energy and "hustle" such as no President
had before. He had strong opinions to which he never hesitated to
give voice, and perhaps since Lincoln no President had been so much
a dictator.
Perhaps the most interesting thing in Roosevelt's presidency was
the beginning of the Panama Canal.
You remember that when Columbus set forth upon the Sea of Darkness
his idea was to reach the east by sailing west. And to this day of
his death he imagined that he had reached India by sailing westward.
But soon men found out the mistake, and then began the search for
the North-West Passages by which they might sail past the great
Continent, and so reach India.
Pages:
683
684
685
686
687
688
689
690
691
692
693
694
695
696
697
698
699
700
701
702
703
704
705
706
707